Sunday was just one of those days when things with your kids (and when I say "kids" I mean Princess D and Chloe the puppy) just don't go quite right ...
Chloe + Quaker Chocolate Chip Chewy Granola Bars = Jacked Up On Sugar
After my morning shower I headed into the dining room to have breakfast with my aunt and cousin (who were visiting from LA). My mom asked if Chloe was with me. She wasn't since I had been in the shower. We started calling for her and heard complete silence which is never a good thing when this puppy wears a bell on her collar. I went looking for her and found her in my daughter's room (where my aunt and cousin were staying since Princess D was with her daddy for the weekend) licking the wrapper of a Quaker Chocolate Chip Chewy Granola Bars.
Apparently my aunt had a bag of food sitting on the floor in the bedroom. Since Chloe is genetically a hound she sniffed out the food ignoring all of the fruit in the bag and going straight for the good stuff. She was able to tear open the wrapper and gobbled up every morsel of granola and the chocolate chips.
Daschunds are notorious for being over weight, so we are very cautious about not giving Chloe anything other than her dog food, chews, broccoli, green beans, apples and bananas. We are also very aware of what she should never eat -- grapes, raising, onions and chocolate. So you can imagine my horror when I realized what she had eaten.
Luckily those Quaker Chocolate Chip Chewy Granola Bars don't have too much chocolate in them to cause Chloe any health risk. But, the poor puppy did get "all jacked up on sugar" (as Princess D would say). I kept Chloe contained in her fenced off play area where she proceeded to pull everything out of her crate, clawed at a frisbee for 10 minutes, and thrashed around with every toy until she passed out.
Lessons learned:
1) All food must be stored in the kitchen and kept out of Chloe's reach.
2) Even if you can't smell it, Chloe can!
Princess D + Sugar-Free Life Savers = Yucky Poo
At 615pm on Sunday I got a txt message from The X letting me know that he was on his way to drop Princess D off and that "she has had yucky poo for the past couple of hours". They had been at his friends' house all day so that he could watch the Padres vs. Giants game while Princess D played with his friends' kids.
When they arrived I asked what she had eaten to try to figure out if she had a stomach bug or if the "yucky poo" was due to something she ate. Sure enough all she had consumed was a chocolate chip muffin, chocolate milk, a few crackers, candy and some rice she only had 3 spoon fulls of because it was brown and not white. (She is half Asian after all!) After they left she said she was really hungry so I fed her some chicken, broccoli and noodle soup. All of which she inhaled, but completely expelled not long after. I asked her what kind of candy she had been eating today and she described Life Savers. The next morning I found a candy wrapper in the entry hall for Sugar-Free Life Savers and asked Princess D is that was what she had been eating. Excitedly she replied "Yes, I had 7 of them!"
I know that sugar free candy can cause diarrhea if you eat to many, so I looked up the nutritional information for Sugar-Free Life Savers and here is what I saw in screaming bold capital letters:
Additionally, you will see that the serving size is only 4 and my 39lb 5 year old had almost double the recommended amount. It is no surprise that Princess D had "yucky poo"!
Lessons learned:
1) Princess D needs to ALWAYS ask mama (or which ever adult she is with) if she can eat something BEFORE she eats it.
2) Original is ALWAYS better than sugar free.
3) If you are looking to lose a few pounds or are constipated eat Sugar-free Life Savers!
Neither of these things were bad enough to spoil the lovely weekend, but they could have been avoided or they could have turned out very bad if either of my "kids" consumed even more.
If you don't already know what your dog shouldn't be eating WebMD has a really good slideshow.
If you don't know about the side effects of sugar free candy read this and this.
